Student Financial Grants

Many people owe their livelihoods and secondary education to student financial grants. Whether you are thinking about attending a trade school, community college or a large public university, the first step in your educational financial planning should be applying for grants for students.

Student grants come in the form of cash reimbursement grants to trade schools, community colleges and public universities, and are available from both private foundations and good old Uncle Sam, the United States federal government.  Sometimes, you can even get help with outside costs, such as living expenses and more. While private awarding organizations tend to be stricter in giving grants for students to start their secondary education, the U.S. federal government tends to be a bit more flexible and open in their award of students grant.

Private and corporate financial grants for students tend to be offered to high achieving students in their last year of high school and tend to be demographically occupationally targeted. Most private and corporate foundations offer student financial grants to the top one half of one percent of the prospective graduating class who plan on earning a secondary education in specific fields of trade. Some of the more available opportunities in these

types of student financial grants are in the following fields:

• Medical technology
• Biomechanics
• Nursing
• Mechanical engineering
• Forestry and conservation
• Social services

For those planning on applying for either private or corporate financial grants for students, you need to consider the following general guidelines:

• The student must be within the last two high school years, more often than not inside the graduating high school year;
• The student must be financially ineligible to receive federal aid;
• The student must be in the top one grade point average percentile;
• The student must demonstrate need.

When applying for federally sponsored student grants, such as the Pell Grant, it’s the job of the college or trade school Admissions Officer to help get you started. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA is used to apply for most federal and state loans, grants for students and scholarship programs. When you submit the FAFSA to the US Department of Education, they forward the information on the form to both the

state student assistance agency and the federal government application center.

Federally sponsored student financial grants also offer the advantage of being awarded what is known as a stipend, or money not designated strictly for class costs, such as help with housing, food and transportation back and forth from school. Federal student aid also helps students who have started college using their own funds, but have come up financially short to continue their education.

As you have learned, many people owe their livelihoods and secondary education to student financial grants. Whether you are thinking about attending a trade school, community college or a large public university, the very first step in your educational financial planning should be applying for private and federal financial grants for students.